S-Miles to Go offers dental services in new location through end of September

BUFFALO, N.Y. ­—Twelve-year-old Azalea Cunningham got great news on Aug. 26: no cavities.

Along with a thorough dental exam, Cunningham received a cleaning and fluoride treatment to help prevent future cavities — all from a comfy chair inside a 42-foot-long mobile dental unit (MDU) parked outside Harvest House community center in East Buffalo.

Cunningham arrived in the early afternoon with her three younger siblings and mother, Brianna Feaster, for dental care provided by faculty dentists and students in the University at Buffalo School of Dental Medicine’s S-Miles to Go program. She was one of more than a dozen children who received care that day in MDU1, which includes three dental chairs, a waiting room and a powered chair lift for patients with disabilities.

“We have insurance, but it’s not great, and not everyone accepts it,” Feaster says. “I was happy to learn that they could see all four kids and give us the dental records they need before school starts.”

S-Miles to Go launched a partnership this month with Good Neighbors Health Care, a free community clinic, which is part of Harvest House. It provides medical and dental care to uninsured and underinsured individuals through the year. The UB program accepts a range of insurance plans, including Medicaid, and offers reduced-priced or free services for patients who are uninsured.

The UB team of dental faculty, staff and fourth-year students are providing services from cleanings and fillings to X-rays and extractions every Monday to adults and every Wednesday to children through the end of September.

“S-Miles to Go is an excellent form of outreach that we are grateful to be able to offer,” says Brett Chiquet, DDS, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Pediatric and Community Dentistry. “We know that disparities in access to dental care are huge throughout the country and in Western New York. By providing crucial dental services, we’re helping children perform better in schools and adults do better at work and in their parenting roles because they aren’t in pain or worrying about a procedure they cannot afford.”

This new partnership was funded out of a $250,000 grant the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation awarded the dental school in 2024. Since 2020, the foundation has provided the school with more than $2.1 million to provide mobile oral health care services for children and adults in rural communities, Buffalo’s East Side, as well as for low-income older adults, homeless individuals and people with disabilities.

“We’re excited to offer S-Miles to Go in Erie County this year,” says Ellyce Clonan, DDS, clinical assistant professor in the Department of Pediatric and Community Dentistry who directs community outreach for the school. “With the fluoride cessation that happened in 2015, we felt the need to focus on the City of Buffalo.”

And having the UB dental available two full days a week is a boon for residents of the Jefferson Avenue neighborhood where Good Neighbors is located.

“Our patients now have access to dental care four and sometimes five days a week, exponentially increasing accessibility during a time when dental care has become increasingly difficult to access for Western New Yorkers,” says Kailey McDonald, program manager of Good Neighbors who is also a PhD candidate in UB’s Department of Global Gender and Sexuality Studies.

“Ours is the only free dental clinic for about 200 miles,” she adds. “With this partnership, we hope to be able to accommodate all the patients in the neighborhood who need dental care.”

Patricia (Patty) Haberman, DDS, clinical assistant professor in the Department of Restorative Dentistry, founded Good Neighbors Dental in 2006.

“We are proud to operate under the direction of Dr. Haberman,” McDonald says. “She has been an incredible steward of health equity for a long-underserved neighborhood, and an inspiration for many dental students who have volunteered with us over the years.”

Starting in October, the second mobile dental unit — the drivable MDU2 — will offer dental care to children and teens within the Cheektowaga Central School District for the second year. Clonan says they are talking with a couple of other districts in Erie County about bringing the van to them in the spring.

Not only does S-Miles to Go provide a much-needed service to the community, but it also gives all fourth-year dental students experience working with different populations, Clonan says.

“Students get a bit of community outreach and public health experience throughout their entire curriculum,” Clonan says. “But this is the part where it becomes clinical and hands-on, which makes it real for them.”